Tigers AD Bowen says schedule mixup "my fault"

Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said Friday that from now on, he's going to talk to Josh Pastner every day.

"It's my fault," he said, of the recent mixup over the future of the Tennessee-Memphis series. "I should have told him earlier."

At a Wednesday press conference, Pastner said he and Bowen agreed the Tennessee series would end with Friday's game. A day later, Bowen contradicted Pastner and acknowledged that he had been negotiating with Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart to extend the series.

At halftime of Friday's game, Bowen explained that he had indeed told Pastner in November that Memphis would no longer have to play Tennessee. Pastner was relying on that information Wednesday.

In the meantime, however, Boise State had announced that it would not be joining the Big East. San Diego State might also decide not to join the depleted conference. The Tigers had been obligated to play four home-and-home series against both starting in 2013. Without those games, Bowen realized, he'd have plenty of room to continue the Tennessee series.

"What are we going to do with those uncoupled games?" said Bowen. "Everything is so fluid, Things are changing every day. We're in a transition. But I'm going to do better with communicating."